Top 10 Things to Add to an IEP to Support Inclusive Placement

Inclusive IEP placements don’t happen by accident. They happen when the IEP team intentionally builds the supports, communication systems, and collaborative practices that allow a student to learn and belong in the general education classroom. As a parent — and the only permanent member of the IEP team — your role is often to keep returning the team’s focus to that intention.

Here are 10 ways to work with your IEP team to develop an IEP that supports meaningful inclusion with peers.

Build inclusion and belonging into your child’s goals. Here’s how:

• Make sure all your goals are aligned with state standards so your child can be learning the same curriculum as their peers.
• Write goals focused on practicing skills that your child would use in a grade-level gen ed classroom. A 7th grader shouldn’t have a goal to stack toy blocks! Find something age-appropriate to stack or practice at home.
• Do you have dozens of goals in your IEP? Could you write a goal that’s more general and access-based, rather than focusing on specific discreet skills?
• Make sure there are clear baselines and measurable goals that can demonstrate progress. If you end up having to go to dispute resolution over IEP placement, it will be important to demonstrate that your child is making progress.

Is your child still working on foundational reading skills? Consider two things to help them access the grade-level curriculum:

1. Can they get Tier 1 intervention to work on backfilling missing skills? Can that instruction be embedded in the inclusive classroom, or is a small intensive pull-out service justified?

2. Can we set up assistive technology so that the child can independently access text-to-speech or audio books in order to read the same thing as the rest of the class? Or do we need to use artificial intelligence to develop accessible texts with the same content?

If your child has related services like OT, APE or PT, consider how these services could support inclusion.

• Is the occupational therapist pulling your child out to work on handwriting? How much progress is being made compared to what they miss in the classroom when they are gone? Can the OT push in or work on pivotal skills, i.e. skills that open up more access to learning?
• Can adapted PE (APE) teach your child how to join a basketball game at recess?
• Can the physical therapist help your child build their core strength and resilience so that they can sit still in a chair all day?

Most kids with extensive support needs will need a paraprofessional to be included in a general education classroom. On the other hand, one common concern is increased dependence on an aide. Here are some ideas:

• Ask for an independence plan with specific times during the day when the aide might fade support. This could be developed using an assessment (often called a SCIA).
• Ask about the aide’s training in behavior, instruction, etc. Inclusive Schooling provides a wonderful remote training program for paraprofessionals called Para-bytes, which you can request your school to fund.
• What kind of aide does your child have? Do they have a behavioral aide trained in behavior intervention when the child’s behavioral issue is primarily about communication? An aide trained in AAC use might be more appropriate.
• Could your child do well in a general education classroom with a shared aide? Many schools designated as model inclusion schools use a paraprofessional model that assigns the aide to the teacher, not the student — your child would still have adult support, but it may come from multiple adults during the day.

Some kids will need their curriculum modified. That doesn't mean they are doing an “alternative curriculum” or “functional skills," just that sometimes they aren't aiming at the grade-level standard. A Core Content Connector can help them access the grade-level curriculum.

And no, a child doesn’t have to be on alternative assessment for state testing in order to have some modifications. Modifications require collaboration between the general education teacher and the education specialist (special ed teacher) as well as other team members such as related service providers and paraprofessionals. Check out this article about modifications for tips.

“Problematic” behavior is often a reason for removing a child from a general education classroom if it impedes the learning of the student doing the behavior or the learning of other students. Federal law 34 C.F.R. § 300.530(f) requires that the team first conduct a functional behavior assessment, create a behavioral plan, and implement it. If you do not think the FBA was adequate, you can ask for an IEE, and if the behavior plan doesn't work, check if the plan is being implemented with fidelity (the IEE observation would indicate if it’s not).

Plus, is behavior actually the problem? Or is the child communicating (go to #3) that the work is too hard (#7 & #8)? There is no reason for a child with a disability to inherently lack motivation, so simply adding rewards is not going to change behavior. Looking at what they are trying to communicate — or at their missing skills — can change how successful the child expects to be.

If you have asked for an AT assessment, an AAC assessment, an FBA, and a SCIA assessment, that’s a lot of IEP meetings! There are still more ways to use assessments to support inclusion:

• Ask for dynamic testing. Most of us despise the psychoeducational tests that our kids have to endure and the deficit-based conversations they elicit in the IEP meeting. Asking for an assessment using dynamic testing can be a game changer because by adding accommodations and supports to the standardized tests, the assessor can identify exactly what kind of supports your child needs. Unfortunately, we need a lot more professionals trained in dynamic testing.

• Ask for an inclusion report. By this, we mean a report that is ecological in nature (focused on the learning environment, not the student’s ability) and is focused on access and participation. Preferably, the assessment should be carried out by an educational specialist with experience in inclusion. This kind of report is still not a standard thing to ask the school district for, but when successful, it can be a game changer, providing the team with ideas for services and supports, and professional training on how to provide the supports in an efficient, collaborative, and sustainable way. Evolve & Effect has a free download guide to this kind of assessment.

• Of course, any time you have an assessment, you can ask for an IEE at public expense if you feel that the district’s assessment was not adequate.

If working with your IEP team to incorporate any of these supports has made a difference for your child’s inclusion and participation at school, we would love to hear about it! Drop us an email or share your parent win in our private Facebook group!